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One of Lucinda’s many charms is her genuineness. After her opening number, she stated she was glad to be back in Knoxville. “I’ve raised some serious hell in this town.” After introducing the ballad “Blue” from her album Essence, some wise guy in the audience starting counting off 1-2-3-4, indicating a desire for a faster number. Williams’ quipped “Getting restless? Let’s skip this song,” and played it anyway. When her band began “Sweet Side” with a quick tempo, she halted the song and requested they slow it down. During her second attempt, she flubbed the lyrics and stopped the song again. During her third try, the song just wasn’t happening for her, so she aborted it altogether. I never liked that song anyway.

I always appreciate when an artist, especially songwriters as talented as Williams, shares the sources of inspiration to their work. “Too Cool to be Forgotten” from the perfect album Carwheels on a Gravel Road, was written on a bad New Year’s Day in Knoxville and was inspired by two books of photography-- “Appalachian Portraits” and “Juke Joint.” Also from Carwheels, the song “I Lost It” was initially triggered by seeing “I Found It” bumper stickers on cars in Houston, Texas. “Atonement” from World Without Tears was motivated by Z.Z. Top, Jim Morrison, Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty. Lucinda swears “Unsuffer Me” from West is not a song addressed to a former lover, as the press has said, but is really a song about spiritual freedom and redemption.

Also during her encore, prior to launching into “World Without Tears,” Lucinda paused for a very moving acknowledgment of the Virginia Tech tragedy and a plea for more support and funding for mental illness treatment. “Sadly, this is a taboo subject. Still.”

Other highlights of the show included “Fruits of My Labor,” “Pineloa,” “People Talking,” “Greenville,” and the funny, redneck honky-tonk lament “Jailhouse Tears,” and the peculiar and seductive “Hotblood.”

The first time I saw Lucinda Williams in concert was during her 2005 performance at the Tennessee Theatre. While I really enjoyed that show, it was nothing compared to her performance this past Saturday. Her positive energy was infectious and her hell driving passion and power were mesmerizing. I was grateful to be a witness to her testimony. This was overall one of the best concerts I have ever experienced.